Who would have thought that durian and spicy strips, two species that are "from the south to the north of the world", would become Weilong's innovation inspiration.
Nashi noticed that recently, Weilong continued to innovate on the classic spicy strip gluten, and launched a new flavor of durian spicy strip, once again refreshing consumers' category cognition of spicy snack food. Although new flavors emerge in the food industry one after another, it is not common for new flavor products like Weilong to bring their own topic traffic and arouse the expectations of the whole network due to the huge contrast.
Weilong, who has always loved to play and can play, based on what kind of market insight did he launch durian spicy strips? When the soft glutinous gluten meets durian, what kind of novel and surprising taste bud experience will collide?
When durian meets spicy strips
What kind of sparks will collide?
In the food industry, durian can be said to be one of the most controversial fruits. Durian has long been unique in the food industry for its unique and strong smell, and some people love it for their lives, while others shun it.
However, it is this extreme and controversial feature that also makes durian have its own traffic. For example, in May this year, durian frequently appeared on the hot search due to price reduction, and many consumers cheered that "durian can finally be freed". In particular, in 2023, the number and value of fresh durian imported by China have hit a record high, reaching 1.4259 million tons and 6.716 billion US dollars, respectively. It can be said that durian naturally has its own topic attributes in young circles.
Although consumers are no longer unfamiliar with durian, and even durian potato chips, durian drinks, durian cakes, etc. have appeared on the market, but durian spicy strips are really the first. Young people in particular, are willing to pay for curiosity and emotions. Therefore, when Weilong durian spicy strips were launched, it aroused everyone's curiosity and discussion.
It is not difficult to understand that the "unexpected" combination of durian and spicy strips arouses the curiosity of users, but the difficulty is that the flavors of durian and spicy strips are very unique, and how should Weilong achieve a balance in taste?
Good raw materials are the premise of good products. In terms of raw materials, Weilong durian spicy strips are added with Musang King pure durian powder, as well as selected wheat flour with full grains and wheat flavor. In terms of technology, Weilong adopts the extrusion cooking non-frying process, the embryo body is soft and glutinous, tight and chewy, and the pores evenly and fully absorb the durian powder seasoning, so that the rich durian fragrance is attached to the surface of the embryo body, and every bite is soft and glutinous, so that consumers can enjoy the rich durian flavor of durian spicy strips at the same time, they can also experience the product experience of "three points of durian flavor, seven points of spicy strip fragrance". It is understood that the new products are now new in the official flagship store.
Nashi believes that behind the launch of Weilong durian spicy strips is the continuous insight into the young people's circle, and while using the product as a medium to play with young people, it also allows the outside world to see Weilong's innovative vitality again.
Create a new product marketing mix
Interesting interpretation of durian spicy strips "on the top".
Although the taste of hunting for curiosity can indeed cause a burst of social heat, especially the strong contrast combination of durian and spicy strips has the attribute of social currency. However, it should be noted that this is not a universal formula for brand development, and brands need to build a set of marketing mixes to convert product volume into real brand sales. It should also be noted that for spicy lovers, spicy strips are not only a satisfying snack, but also a source of spiritual happiness.
Throughout Weilong's new product marketing, its success lies in the use of the contrast between durian and spicy strips, and amplified the fun in the marketing, stimulated young people's interest in new products through content output and interaction, and constantly promoted the discussion of new products among young users.
1. Excavate the popularity of new products and create a "blasting point" for new products to be launched
Before the launch of the new product, in order to maximize the visibility of the new product by users, Weilong warmed up the listing of durian spicy strips on social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu and official accounts, and passed on the core interests of the product "using pure Musang King durian powder" and "three durian flavored seven-point spicy strips" to the audience. I want to try it", "Durian meets Weilong spicy products, of course, I want to buy some by myself first!" Looking at it, it's all salivating, durian spicy with "......
(Netizen Message)
2. Create offline flash mob activities to drive new products out of the circle
Without deep user engagement, brand popularity cannot be formed. In order to continue to ferment the popularity of new product launches, on June 22-23, Weilong durian spicy strips made a blockbuster appearance in Shanghai, bringing a "tasteful" flash mob activity to young people. It is worth mentioning that the warning packaging of durian spicy strips is a proportional restoration of durian spicy strip packaging box, and a number of interesting areas are set up, so that young people can fully experience the "top" feeling brought by durian spicy strips, which has successfully attracted the attention and participation of many young consumers.
For example, in the "Legitimate Taste Prevention" interactive area, consumers need to "choose a strong durian spicy strip aroma" or "choose to eliminate the durian spicy strip aroma", which will be implanted into the wall with a jet device, and users can choose one of the two in the limit; In the final interactive area, users can also receive a new durian spicy strip to taste, and increase the user experience by adding interesting dressing and plating. Such an interesting interactive experience not only makes the new durian spicy strips continue to ferment in the young circle. According to the latest data, online, the 2-day flash live broadcast exposure was 4000w+, the number of product exposures exceeded 500W, and the number of viewers in the live broadcast room reached 250W+, and at the same time, on the day of the event, Weilong live broadcast rushed to the top 1 of the Douyin flagship store list, and the final conversion sales results were also very significant, durian spicy strips sold 10w orders in two days, sales broke 100w, new customer transactions were 90%+, and the Z generation crowd accounted for 50%+, which also further deepened the connection between consumers and brands.
3. Achieve maximum exposure with the help of celebrities, and deduce the product development process in an interesting way
In order to maximize consumer attention and achieve sales conversion, Weilong continued the young, humorous and interesting brand style, and cooperated with the popular "An Lingrong" actor in "The Legend of Zhen Huan" to incarnate Weilong's R&D personnel, bringing the audience a creative video of "Rebirth I am a durian in Weilong".
This video interprets the arduous research and development process of durian spicy strips from "two teaspoons of durian and four teaspoons of chili powder" to "adding pure Musang King durian powder, the more you eat, the more you eat, the more you eat", in a humorous and funny style, which not only adds to the fun of the whole video, but also makes Weilong want to present delicious and authentic durian spicy strips to consumers. It is worth mentioning that on the same day, the artist ID video will be launched simultaneously on his personal Douyin account to attract traffic to Weilong's live broadcast room and achieve sales conversion.
It is worth mentioning that Weilong, who is well versed in marketing, has also launched a series of IP co-branding with "Egg Boy" after revitalizing its sub-brand, and has launched a series of IP co-branded gameplay with "Egg Boy", joining forces to penetrate the post-00s young game circle and trend circle.
From the early stage of social media warm-up, to the offline flash mob activities that swept the young circle, to the release of social interesting videos to attract traffic to the live broadcast room, and finally achieved brand transformation. In this process, Weilong not only gained a large amount of voice, but also converted traffic into real income, truly achieving the integration of quality and efficiency. At a deeper level, this very interesting and characteristic way of playing not only intuitively allows young users to feel the "top" of the new durian spicy strips, but also highlights the young brand genes.
Create a "double helix" of product and marketing
Innovation-driven, rejuvenated, rejuvenated
Spicy flavor can stimulate the secretion of endorphins and bring pleasure to people, which is why the spicy snack food market has maintained rapid growth. According to Frost &Sullivan, the retail sales of China's spicy snack food industry will reach RMB 273.7 billion in 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 9.6% from 2021 to 2026, higher than the 6.0% growth rate of China's non-spicy snack food industry in the same period. The spicy snack food market remains one of the most promising and dynamic sectors in the FMCG market.
In terms of retail sales in 2021, Weilong ranked first among all spicy snack food companies in China, with a market share of 6.2%, 3.9 times that of the second largest company, and more than the combined market share of the second to fifth companies. The market share of seasoned noodle products and spicy snack vegetable products in the sub-category also ranks first. As a pioneer in China's spicy snack food market, Weilong has not rested on its laurels, but has been maintaining an efficient innovation speed in terms of products and marketing.
In terms of product innovation, on the basis of in-depth insight into market trends and consumer preferences, Weilong has interpreted from "spicy strips" to "spicy" and then to "Weilong is not just a spicy". For example, with the insight that the popularity of spicy flavor continues to rise nationwide, Weilong has made great efforts to create a domineering panda authentic spicy strip with the unique charm of authentic spicy; Following the creation of Weilong's konjac shuang large single product, Weilong once again actively innovated in the konjac leisure snack track, and launched a new konjac spicy snack "Little Witch" brand to bring consumers a satisfying taste experience; In the spicy puffed blank market, Weilong innovatively launched crispy hot and hot crispy chips, bringing consumers a product experience of "crisp but not broken, spicy just right".
In terms of brand marketing, Weilong is also constantly deepening brand building, and continues to interact with young users with the image of fun-loving and playful. For example, in the "Double Eleven" in 2022, under the social mood of extreme involution and anxiety, Weilong Buddhist marketing has won the recognition of contemporary young consumer groups with its "anti-involution" brand attitude; Last year, Weilong made enough gimmicks in social networks with the "conspicuous backpack" designed by the classic spicy strip packaging series, and was called "a must-have for social cattle" by young people.
In Nashi's view, product innovation and marketing innovation have become the "double helix" of Weilong's development. From actively responding to the diversified needs of consumers, quickly accelerating in the ever-changing market direction, to approaching young people with more innovative and dynamic marketing content through rich and interesting marketing memes, and constantly injecting young genes into itself, it has continued to consolidate its leading position in China's spicy snack food industry.
brief summary
Looking back at Weilong's series of actions this time, Nashi believes that the reason why Weilong can win the hearts of young people is that it has a steady stream of innovative ability and accurate grasp of the needs of young people in both products and marketing, and it is precisely because of this that Weilong continues to burst out strong brand vitality in the market, and also provides a good model for other brands to rejuvenate. In the future, what other surprises can Weilong bring us? Let's wait and see!